Drainage Channel for Sports Camera

ABSTRACT

An audio capture system for a sports camera includes at least one “enhanced” microphone and at least one “reference” microphone. The enhanced microphone includes a drainage enhancement feature to enable water to drain from the microphone more quickly than the reference microphone. A microphone selection controller selects between the microphones based on a microphone selection algorithm to enable high quality in conditions where the sports camera transitions in and out of water during activities such as surfing, water skiing, swimming, or other wet environments.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/188,450 entitled “Automatic Microphone Selection in a Sports Camera”to Zhinian Jing, et al., filed on Jul. 2, 2015, the contents of whichare incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

This disclosure relates to audio capture, and more specifically, to theselecting between multiple available microphones in an audio capturesystem.

Description of the Related Art

In a camera designed to operate both in and out of water, the audiosubsystem can be stressed to the point where the resulting signalcaptured by the microphone is distorted and unnatural. The transitionbetween the two environments can be particularly challenging due to theimpulse of splashing water. During certain activities such as surfing,swimming, or other water sports, transition in and out of water mayoccur frequently over an extended period of time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed embodiments have other advantages and features which willbe more readily apparent from the following detailed description of theinvention and the appended claims, when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of an audiocapture system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a process forselecting between audio signals from different microphones in an audiocapture system with multiple microphones.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of a process forselecting between audio signals from different microphones in an audiocapture system with multiple microphones.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process fordetecting a wet microphone condition.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process forselecting a subset of microphones out of a group of microphones.

FIG. 6A is first perspective view of an example camera system.

FIG. 6B is second perspective view of an example camera system.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a drainage enhancement feature for anenhanced microphone in a camera system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The figures and the following description relate to preferredembodiments by way of illustration only. It should be noted that fromthe following discussion, alternative embodiments of the structures andmethods disclosed herein will be readily recognized as viablealternatives that may be employed without departing from the principlesof what is claimed.

Reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying figures. It is noted thatwherever practicable similar or like reference numbers may be used inthe figures and may indicate similar or like functionality. The figuresdepict embodiments of the disclosed system (or method) for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles described herein.

Configuration Overview

In a first embodiment, an output audio signal is generated in an audiocapture system having multiple microphones including at least a firstmicrophone and a second microphone. The first microphone includes adrainage enhancement feature structured to drain liquid more quicklythan the second microphone lacking the drainage enhancement feature. Afirst audio signal is received from the first microphone representingambient audio captured by the first microphone during a time interval. Asecond audio signal is received from the second microphone representingambient audio captured by the second microphone during the timeinterval. A correlation metric is determined between the first audiosignal and the second audio signal representing a similarity between thefirst audio signal and the second audio signal. Responsive to thecorrelation metric exceeding a predefined threshold, the first audiosignal is outputted for the time interval. Responsive to the correlationmetric not exceeding the first predefined threshold, a first noisemetric is determined for the first audio signal and a second noisemetric is determined for the second audio signal. Responsive to the sumof the first noise metric and a bias value being less than the secondnoise metric, the first audio signal is output for the time interval.Responsive to the sum of the first noise metric and the bias value beinggreater than the second noise metric, the second audio signal is outputfor the time interval.

In a second embodiment, an output audio signal is generated in an audiocapture system having multiple microphones including at least a firstmicrophone and a second microphone. The first microphone includes adrainage enhancement feature structured to drain liquid more quicklythan the second microphone lacking the drainage enhancement feature. Afirst audio signal is received from the first microphone representingambient audio captured by the first microphone during a time interval. Asecond audio signal is received from the second microphone representingambient audio captured by the second microphone during the timeinterval. A correlation metric is determined between the first audiosignal and the second audio signal representing a similarity between thefirst audio signal and the second audio signal. Responsive to thecorrelation metric exceeding a first predefined threshold, the firstaudio signal is output for the time interval. Responsive to thecorrelation metric not exceeding the first predefined threshold, it isdetermined whether the microphones are submerged in liquid. If themicrophones are not submerged, it is determined whether the firstmicrophone is wet. If the first microphone is wet, the second microphonesignal is output for the time interval. Responsive to determining thatfirst microphone is not wet or that the microphones are submerged, afirst noise metric is determined for the first audio signal and a secondnoise metric is determined for the second audio signal. Responsive tothe sum of the first noise metric and a bias value being less than thesecond noise metric, the first audio signal is output for the timeinterval. Responsive to the sum of the first noise metric and the biasvalue being greater than the second noise metric, the second audiosignal is output for the time interval.

In another embodiment, a method determines if a first microphone is wetin an camera system having a first microphone and a second microphone,where the first microphone is positioned in a recess of an inner side ofa face of the camera, where the recess is coupled to a channel coupledto a lower drain below the channel to drain water from the recess awayfrom the microphone via the channel, and where the second microphone ispositioned away from the channel and the drain. A first average signallevel of the first audio signal and a second average signal level of thesecond audio signal are determined over a predefined time interval. Aratio of the first average signal level to the second average signallevel is determined. Responsive to the ratio of the first average signallevel to the second average signal level exceeding a first threshold ordetecting a wind condition, it is determined that a wet microphonecondition is not detected. Responsive to the ratio of the first averagesignal level to the second average signal level not exceeding the firstthreshold and not detecting the wind condition, it is determined thatthe wet microphone condition is detected.

In another embodiment, a camera comprises a lens assembly, asubstantially cubic camera housing, a first microphone, a lower drain,an upper drain, a channel, and a second microphone. The lens assemblydirects light received through a lens window to an image sensor. Thesubstantially cubic camera housing encloses the lens assembly andcomprises a bottom face, left face, right face, back face, top face, andfront face. The first microphone is integrated with the front face ofthe camera and positioned within a recess on an interior facing portionof the front face. The lower drain is below the first microphone andcomprises an opening in the substantially cubic camera housing near thefront face. The lower drain allows water that collects in the recesshousing the first microphone to drain. The upper drain is above thefirst microphone and comprises an opening in the substantially cubichousing near the front face. The upper drain allows air to enter therecess as the water drains. The channel through the interior facingportion of the front face couples the recess to the lower drain. Thesecond microphone is integrated with a rear portion of the substantiallycubic camera housing.

In yet another embodiment, an audio capture system comprises asubstantially cubic housing including a bottom face, left face, rightface, back face, top face, and front face. A first microphone isintegrated with the front face of the audio capture system andpositioned within a recess on an interior facing portion of the frontface. A lower drain below the first microphone comprises an opening inthe substantially cubic housing near the front face to allow water thatcollects in the recess housing the first microphone to drain. An upperdrain above the first microphone comprises an opening in thesubstantially cubic housing near the front face to allow air to enterthe recess as the water drains. A channel through the interior facingportion of the front face couples the recess to the lower drain. Asecond microphone is integrated with a rear portion of the substantiallycubic housing.

Example Audio Capture System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an audio capture system 100 includingmultiple microphones. The audio capture system 100 includes at least one“enhanced” microphone 110, at least one “reference” microphone 120, amicrophone selection controller 130, and an audio encoder 140. Theenhanced microphone 110 includes a drainage enhancement feature toenable water to drain from the microphone more quickly than thereference microphone 120. The drainage enhancement feature may beaccomplished utilizing gravity and/or surface tension forces. In variousembodiments, the drainage enhancement feature may be implemented usingan inner surface energy coating or particular hole dimensions, shapes,density, patterns, or interior curvature or a combination of featuresthat affect that drainage profile of the enhanced microphone 110. Theenhanced microphone 110 can therefore recover relatively quickly whenmoved from in water to out of water and therefore mitigates thefrequency response distortion leading to muffled, unnatural sound whenwater is trapped on the membrane over the microphone or obscures theacoustic pathways to the microphone. In contrast, the referencemicrophone 120 includes a physical barrier between the splashing waterand a waterproof membrane over the microphone to mitigate the impulsesfrom splashing water. For example, in one embodiment, the barriercomprises a plastic barrier that absorbs some of the water impactimpulse. In another embodiment, an air buffer may exist between thebarrier and the waterproof membrane over the microphone. In anotherembodiment, a porting structure traps a buffer layer of water on theoutside of a waterproof membrane over the microphone, thus creating aprotective layer that blocks splashing water from directly impacting thewaterproof membrane. Additionally, the muffling quality of water pooledon the waterproof membrane reduces some high frequency content of thesplashing water.

In operation, both the enhanced microphone 110 and reference microphone120 capture ambient audio 105 and pass the captured audio to themicrophone selection controller 130. The audio captured by the enhancedmicrophone 110 and the reference microphone 120 may have varying audiocharacteristics due to the different structural features of themicrophones 110, 120. Typically, the enhanced microphone 110 will havemore spectral artifacts both in open air and when operating under waterdue to the drainage enhancement feature. Furthermore, the enhancedmicrophone 110 may have degraded signal-to-noise in windy conditions dueto the drainage enhancement feature. However, the enhanced microphone110 will generally have better signal-to-noise ratio performance out ofwater in non-windy conditions relative to the reference microphone 120.Therefore, a different selection between the enhanced microphone 110 andthe reference microphone 120 may be desirable under different audiocapture conditions.

The microphone selection controller 130 processes the audio capturedfrom the enhanced microphone 110 and the reference microphone 120 andselects, based on the audio characteristics, which of the audio signalsto pass to the audio encoder 140. In one embodiment, the microphoneselection controller 130 operates on a block-by-block basis. In thisembodiment, for each time interval, the microphone selection controller130 receives a first block of audio data from the enhanced microphoneand a second block of audio data from the reference microphone 120, eachcorresponding to ambient audio 105 captured by the respectivemicrophones 110, 120 during the same time interval. The microphoneselection controller 130 processes the pair of blocks to determine whichblock to pass the audio encoder 140.

In one embodiment, the microphone selection controller 130 generallyoperates to select the enhanced microphone 110 directly aftertransitioning out of water since the enhanced microphone 110 tends todrain the water faster and has better out of water audio quality.Furthermore, the microphone selection controller 130 generally operatesto select the reference microphone 120 when in the water and whentransitioning between air and water because it better mitigates theunnatural impulses caused by splashing water.

The audio encoder 140 encodes the blocks of audio received from themicrophone selection controller 130 to generate an encoded audio signal145.

In an embodiment, the microphone selection control 130 and/or the audioencoder 140 are implemented as a processor and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executedby the processor carry out the functions attributed to the microphoneselection controller 130 and/or audio encoder 140 described herein. Themicrophone selection controller 130 and audio encoder 140 may beimplemented using a common processor or separate processors. In otherembodiments, the microphone selection controller 130 and/or audioencoder 140 may be implemented in hardware, (e.g., with an FPGA orASIC), firmware, or a combination of hardware, firmware and software.

In an embodiment, the audio capture system 100 is implemented within acamera system such as the camera 500 described below with respect toFIG. 5. Such a camera may use the encoded audio 145 captured by theaudio capture system 100 as an audio channel for video captured by thecamera. Thus, the audio capture system 100 may capture audio in a mannerthat is concurrent and synchronized with corresponding frames of video.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process forselecting between an enhanced microphone 110 and a reference microphone120. A correlation metric is determined 202 between signal levels ofaudio blocks captured by the enhanced microphone 110 and referencemicrophone 120 respectively. The correlation metric represents asimilarity between a first audio signal captured from the enhancedmicrophone 110 during a time interval and a second audio signal capturedfrom the reference microphone 120 during the same time interval.Generally, the signals will be well-correlated in the absence of windnoise, but will be poorly correlated when wind noise is present. Thus,the correlation metric may operate as a wind detector. In oneembodiment, the correlation metric comprises a value from 0 to 1 where acorrelation metric of 1 represents a situation where there is no wind,and a correlation metric of 0 means that the captured audio is entirelywind noise. In one embodiment, the correlation metric is determinedusing a correlation function that includes a regularization term y tohandle low level signals. For example, in one embodiment, thecorrelation function is given by:

X=max(0, Σ_(n=0) ^(N−1)(L[n]+γ)*(R[n]+γ))  (1)

where (*) represents a scalar multiplication, N is the block size, γ isthe regularization term (e.g., γ=0.001), and L[n] and R[n] are thesamples from the enhanced microphone and reference microphonerespectively. The max operator constrains the correlation metric X to bein the range 0 and +1. In one embodiment, the correlation metric iscalculated over a predefined spectral range (e.g., 600-1200 Hz). Using arestricted range beneficially eliminates or reduces artifacts caused byvibration (which typically occur at low frequencies) and reduces theamount of processing relative to calculating the metric over the fullfrequency spectrum. In one embodiment, the correlation metric is updatedat a frequency based on the audio sample rate and sample block size. Forexample, if a 32 kHz sampling rate is used with a block size of 1024samples, the correlation metric may be updated approximately every 32milliseconds. In one embodiment, the correlation metric is smoothed overtime.

The correlation metric is compared 204 to a predefined threshold. In oneembodiment, the predefined threshold may changes between two or morepredefined thresholds depending on the previous state (e.g., whether thereference microphone or enhanced microphone was selected) to include ahysteresis effect. For example, if for the previously processed block,correlation metric exceeded the predefined threshold (e.g., a predefinedthreshold of 0.8) indicating that low wind noise detected, then thepredefined threshold is set lower for the current block (e.g. 0.7). iffor the previously processed block, the correlation metric did notexceed the predefined threshold (e.g., a predefined threshold of 0.8),indicating that high wind noise was detected, then the predefinedthreshold for the current block is set higher (e.g., to 0.8).

If the correlation metric exceeds 204 a predefined threshold, then theenhanced microphone 110 is selected because it typically has bettersignal-to-noise ratio. If the correlation metric does not exceed 204 thepredefined threshold, noise metrics are determined for the audio signalscaptured by the enhanced microphone 110 and the reference microphone120. Under some conditions, it may be reasonably presumed that bothmicrophones 110, 120 pick up the desired (noiseless) signal atapproximately, the same level and if one of the microphones is slightlyblocked, then the correlation metric will still be relatively highindicating that there is low wind. Furthermore, it may be reasonablypresumed that noise from the effects of wind or water is local to eachmicrophone and that the noise will not destructively cancel out thesignal. Based on these assumptions, the microphone that is louder duringa low correlation condition is determined to be the microphone that hasthe noise. Thus, in one embodiment, the noise metrics simply compriseroot-mean-squared amplitude levels of the enhanced and referencemicrophones over a predefined time period. For example, the predefinedtime period may include a sliding time window that includes thecurrently processed block and a fixed number of blocks prior to thecurrent block (e.g., an approximately 4 second window). In anotherembodiment, a recursive-based RMS value is used (e.g., with a timeconstant of approximately 4 seconds). In one embodiment, the noisemetric is based on equalized amplitude levels of the microphones. Theequalization levels are set so that the microphones have similaramplitude characteristics under normal conditions (e.g., non-windy andnon-watery conditions). In one embodiment, the noise metric is measuredacross substantially the entire audible band (e.g., between 20 Hz and 16kHz).

If the sum of the noise metric for the enhanced microphone 110 and abias value is less than the noise metric for the reference microphone120, then the microphone selection controller 130 selects 212 theenhanced microphone. On the other hand, if the sum of the noise metricfor the enhanced microphone 110 and the bias value is not less than(e.g., greater than) the noise metric for the reference microphone 120,then the microphone selection controller 130 selects 212 the referencemicrophone 120.

In one embodiment, the bias value may comprise either a positive ornegative offset that is dynamically adjusted based on the correlationmetric. For example, if the correlation metric is below a lowerthreshold (e.g., 0.4), then a first bias value is used which may be apositive bias value (e.g., 10 dB). If the correlation metric is above anupper threshold (e.g., 0.8), then a second bias value is used which maybe a negative bias value (e.g., −6dB). If the correlation metric isbetween the lower threshold (e.g., 0.4) and the upper threshold (e.g.,0.8), the bias value is a linear function of the correlation metric XFor example, in one embodiment, the bias value is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{{bias} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{bias}_{1},} & {X \leq {Th}_{L}} \\{{{\frac{{bias}_{1} - {bias}_{2}}{{Th}_{L} - {Th}_{U}}\left( {X - {Th}_{L}} \right)} + {bias}_{1}},} & {{Th}_{L} < X < {Th}_{U}} \\{{bias}_{2},} & {X \geq {Th}_{U}}\end{matrix} \right.} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where bias₁ is the first bias value used when the correlation metric Xis below the lower threshold Th_(L) and bias₂ is the second bias valueused when the correlation metric X is above the upper threshold Th_(U).

In one embodiment, a hysteresis component is additionally included inthe bias value. In this embodiment, the bias value is adjusted up ordown depending on whether the reference microphone 120 or the enhancedmicrophone 110 was selected for the previous block, so as to avoidswitching between the microphones 110, 120 too frequently. For example,in one embodiment, if the enhanced microphone 110 was selected for theprevious block, an additional hysteresis bias (e.g., 5 db) is subtractedfrom the bias value to make it more likely that the enhanced microphone110 will be selected again as shown in the equation below:

$\begin{matrix}{{bias} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{{bias}_{1} - {bias}_{H}},} & {X \leq {Th}_{L}} \\{{{\frac{{bias}_{1} - {bias}_{2}}{{Th}_{L} - {Th}_{U}}\left( {X - {Th}_{L}} \right)} + {bias}_{1} - {bias}_{H}},} & {{Th}_{L} < X < {Th}_{U}} \\{{{bias}_{2} - {bias}_{H}},} & {X \geq {Th}_{U}}\end{matrix} \right.} & (3)\end{matrix}$

where bias_(H) is the hysteresis bias.

On the other hand, if the reference microphone 120 was selected for theprevious block, the additional hysteresis bias (e.g,. 5 dB) is added tothe bias value to make it more likely that the reference microphone isselected again as shown in the equation below:

$\begin{matrix}{{bias} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{{bias}_{1} + {bias}_{H}},} & {X \leq {Th}_{L}} \\{{{\frac{{bias}_{1} - {bias}_{2}}{{Th}_{L} - {Th}_{U}}\left( {X - {Th}_{L}} \right)} + {bias}_{1} + {bias}_{H}},} & {{Th}_{L} < X < {Th}_{U}} \\{{{bias}_{2} + {bias}_{H}},} & {X \geq {Th}_{U}}\end{matrix} \right.} & (4)\end{matrix}$

The bias value takes into account that not all wind level is createdequal. It is possible to have wind that is softer, but generates moreperceptive noise, than a louder wind. With high amounts of wind (lowcorrelation metric), the enhanced microphone 110 tends to generate moreperceptive noise than the reference microphone 120 during high windcondition due to the drainage enhancement feature. Thus, the bias valueis used to penalize the enhanced microphone 110 for low correlationmetrics.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a process forselecting between an enhanced microphone 110 and a reference microphone120. A correlation metric is determined 302 between signal levels ofaudio blocks captured by the enhanced microphone 110 and referencemicrophone 120 respectively. If the correlation metric exceeds 304 apredefined threshold, then the enhanced microphone 110 is selectedbecause it typically has better signal-to-noise ratio. If thecorrelation metric does not exceed 304 the threshold, it is determined306 if the microphones are submerged in liquid (e.g., water). Thepredefined threshold may be determined in the same manner describedabove.

In one embodiment, a water submersion sensor may be used to determine ifthe microphones are submerged. In other embodiment (in which the audiocapture system is integrated with a camera), an image analysis may beperformed to detect features representative of the camera beingsubmerged in water. For example, detecting color loss may be indicativeof the camera being submerged because it causes exponential loss oflight intensity depending on wavelength. Furthermore, crinkle patternsmay be present in the image when the camera is submerged because thewater surface can form small concave and convex lenses that createpatches of light and dark. Additionally, light reflecting off particlesin the water creates scatter and diffusion that can be detected todetermine if the camera is submerged. In yet another embodiment, waterpressure on the microphone's waterproof membrane may be detected becausethe waterproof membrane will deflect under external water pressure. Thiscauses increased tension which shifts the waterproof membrane'sresonance higher from its nominal value and can be detected in themicrophone signal. Furthermore, the deflection of the waterproofmembrane will results in a positive pressure on and deflection of themicrophone membrane which could manifest itself as a shift in microphonebias. Additionally, a sensor could be placed near the waterproofmembrane to detect an increase in shear force caused by deflection ofthe waterproof membrane that is indicative of the microphone beingsubmerged.

If the microphones are not submerged, then it is determined 316 whetherthe enhanced microphone 110 is wet (e.g., not sufficiently drained afterbeing removed from water). In one embodiment, the wet microphonecondition can be detected by observing spectral response changes over apredefined frequency range (e.g., 2 kHz-4 kHz) or by detecting the soundpattern known to be associated with a wet microphone as compared to adrained microphone. For example, in one embodiment the spectral featuresassociated with a wet (undrained) microphone can be found throughempirical means. In general, when a microphone membrane is wet, higherfrequency sounds are attenuated because the extra weight of the water onthe membrane reduces the vibration of the membrane. Thus, the watergenerally acts as a low pass filter. An example of a process fordetecting wet microphones is described in FIG. 4 below. In oneembodiment, spectral changes can be monitored based on the measuredknown drain time constant differences between the microphone geometries.If the enhanced microphone 110 is wet (e.g., not sufficiently drained),then the reference microphone 120 is selected 320. Otherwise, if themicrophones are submerged or if the enhanced microphone 110 is not wet,then noise metrics are determined 310 for the audio blocks captured bythe enhanced microphone 110 and the reference microphone 120. The noisemetrics may be determined in the same manner as described above in FIG.2. If the sum of the noise metric for the enhanced microphone 110 and abias value is less than the noise metric for the reference microphone120, then the microphone selection controller 130 selects 314 theenhanced microphone. On the other hand, if the sum of the noise metricfor the enhanced microphone 110 and the bias value is not less than thenoise metric for the reference microphone 120, then the microphoneselection controller 130 selects 320 the reference microphone 120. Thebias value may be determined based on equations (2)-(4) described above.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process fordetecting a wet microphone. Generally, water on a microphone has atransfer function approximating a low pass filter. The amount ofattenuation and the cutoff frequency of the wet microphone transferfunction is dependent on how much water is on the microphone.Particularly, the more water on the microphone membrane, the greater theattenuation and the lower the cutoff frequency. This phenomenon is dueto the added mass of the water on the microphone membrane dampening themovement of the membrane. In one embodiment, root-mean-squared (RMS)signal levels of the audio blocks captured by the enhanced microphone110 and reference microphone 120 are calculated 402 across a predefinedfrequency range (e.g., 2 kHz-4 kHz). A smoothing filter may be applied404 to smooth the a ratio of the enhanced microphone RMS signal level tothe reference microphone RMS signal level over time. If it is determined406 that the ratio of the enhanced microphone RMS signal level to thereference microphone RMS signal level is above a predefined threshold,then the wet microphone is not detected 412. Otherwise, if it isdetermined 406 that the ratio of the RMS signal levels is not above thepredefined threshold, it is determined 408 if wind is present since thepresence of wind can result in similar RMS ratios. The presence of windcan be determined based on, for example, a detection signal from a winddetector that determines the presence of wind based on a correlationmetric X as described above. If it is determined 408 that wind noisethreshold is met (i.e., the correlation metric is less than a predefinedthreshold), then the wet microphone is not detected 412. Otherwise, ifthe wind noise threshold is not met (i.e., the correlation metric isgreater than a predefined threshold), then the wet microphone conditionis detected 410.

In embodiments where there are two or more enhanced microphones 110 andtwo or more reference microphones 120, the selection algorithm describedabove may be applied to a group of enhanced microphones 110 and group ofreference microphones 120 instead of a single enhanced microphone 110and single reference microphone 120. In this embodiment, the enhancedmicrophone signal and reference microphone signal inputted to theprocesses above may comprise, for example, an average of all of theenhanced microphones and the reference microphones respectively. Thenthe processes described above select either the enhanced microphonegroup or the reference group. Furthermore in one embodiment, once eitherthe enhanced microphones 110 or reference microphones 120 are selected,a separate selection algorithm may be applied to select an audio blockfrom one of the microphones in the selected group to provide to theaudio encoder 140 (e.g., the signal with the lowest noise).

In another embodiment, a process selects a subset of microphones out ofa group of microphones that may include reference microphones orenhanced microphones. FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a processperformed by the microphone selection controller 130 for choosing Nmicrophones out of a group of M microphones. Audio signals are received502 from each of the microphones in the group. Adverse conditions suchas wind (e.g., low correlation value) or wet microphone (e.g., using theprocess of FIG. 4) are detected 504 if present. If no adverse conditions(e.g., wind, water, etc.) are detected, the microphone selectioncontroller 130 selects 506 N microphones in the group of M microphonesthat are pre-identified as being preferred microphones. If adverseconditions are detected (e.g., wind or water) the RMS levels of each ofthe M microphones are measured 508 and a bias value is added to eachmicrophone. In one embodiment, the bias value is determined based on thebias equations (2)-(4) described above. In alternative embodiments, thebias value for each microphone may be different depending on theconfiguration of each microphone. For example, in one embodiment, thebias function can be a function of the correlation metric, the RMSvalues of all other microphones and the determination of whether or notthe microphone is under water. Then, the N microphones having the lowestsums of their respective bias values and RMS levels are selected 510.Mathematically, the process described above can be represented by thefollowing equations:

$\overset{\rightarrow}{J} = {\begin{bmatrix}J_{1} \\J_{2} \\\cdots \\J_{M}\end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix}{f_{1}\left( {X,{R_{1}R_{2}},\cdots \mspace{14mu},R_{M}} \right)} \\{f_{2}\left( {X,{R_{1}R_{2}},\cdots \mspace{14mu},R_{M}} \right)} \\\cdots \\{f_{M}\left( {X,{R_{1}R_{2}},\cdots \mspace{14mu},R_{M}} \right)}\end{bmatrix}}$

where the microphone selection controller 130 picks the N microphoneshaving the smallest cost value of J and where Ji is a cost valueassociated with the ith microphone, X is the correlation metric, R_(i)is the RMS value of the ith microphone, and f is a predefined costfunction.

In the case of only a single reference microphone 120 and a singleenhanced microphone 120, f₁(X, R₁, R₂)=R₁+g(X) and f₂(X, R₁, R₂)=R₂where g(X) is the piecewise linear function described in the biasequations above, f₁ is the cost function for the enhanced microphone 110and f₂ is the cost function for the reference microphone 120. In oneembodiment, a hysteresis bias may also be included as described above,except with potentially different thresholds, depending on theconfiguration.

Example Camera System Configuration

FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate perspective views of an example camera 600 inwhich the audio capture system 100 may be integrated. The camera 600comprises at least one cross-section having four approximately equallength sides in a two-dimensional plane. Although the cross-section issubstantially square, the corners of the cross-section may be rounded insome embodiments (e.g., a rounded square or squircle). The exterior ofthe square camera 600 includes 6 surfaces (i.e. a front face, a leftface, a right face, a back face, a top face, and a bottom face). In theillustrated embodiment, the exterior surfaces substantially conform to arectangular cuboid, which may have rounded or unrounded corners. In oneexample embodiment, all camera surfaces may also have a substantiallysquare (or rounded square) profile, making the square camera 600substantially cubic. In alternate embodiments, only two of the six faces(e.g., the front face 610 and back face 640) have equal length sides andthe other faces may be other shapes, such as rectangles. The camera 600can have a small form factor (e.g. a height of 2 cm to 9 cm, a width of2 cm to 9 cm, and a depth of 2 cm to 9 cm) and is made of a rigidmaterial such as plastic, rubber, aluminum, steel, fiberglass, or acombination of materials. In other embodiments, the camera 600 may havea different form factor.

In an embodiment, the camera 600 includes a camera lens window 602surrounded by a front face perimeter portion 608 on a front face 610, aninterface button 604 and a display 614 on a top face 620, an I/O door606 on a side face 630, and a back door 612 on a back face 640. Thecamera lens window 602 comprises a transparent or substantiallytransparent material (e.g., glass or plastic) that enables light to passthrough to an internal lens assembly. In one embodiment, the camera lenswindow 602 is substantially flat (as opposed to a convex lens windowfound in many conventional cameras). The front face 610 of the camera600 furthermore comprises a front face perimeter portion 608 thatsurrounds the lens window 602. In one embodiment, the front faceperimeter portion 608 comprises a set of screws to secure the front faceperimeter portion 608 to the remainder of the housing of the camera 600and to hold the lens window 602 in place.

The interface button 604 provides a user interface that when activatedenables a user to control various functions of the camera 600. Forexample, pressing the button 604 may control the camera to power on orpower off, take pictures or record video, save a photo, adjust camerasettings, or perform any other action relevant to recording or storingdigital media. In one embodiment, the interface button 604 may performdifferent functions depending on the type of interaction (e.g., shortpress, long press, single tap, double tap, triple tap, etc.) Inalternative embodiments, these functions may also be controlled by othertypes of interfaces such as a knob, a switch, a dial, a touchscreen,voice control, etc. Furthermore, the camera 600 may have more than oneinterface button 604 or other controls. The display 614 comprises, forexample, a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display(LCD) or other type of display for displaying various types ofinformation such as camera status and menus. In alternative embodiments,the interface button 604, display 606, and/or other interface featuresmay be located elsewhere on the camera 600.

The I/O door 606 provides a protective cover for various input/outputports of the camera 600. For example, in one embodiment, the camera 600includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and/or a High-DefinitionMedia Interface (HDMI) port, and a memory card slot accessible behindthe I/O door 606. In other embodiments, additional or differentinput/output ports may be available behind the I/O door 606 or elsewhereon the camera 600.

The back door 612 provides a protective cover that when removed enablesaccess to internal components of the camera 600. For example, in oneembodiment, a removable battery is accessible via the back door 612.

In some embodiments, the camera 600 described herein includes featuresother than those described below. For example, instead of a singleinterface button 604, the square camera 600 can include additionalbuttons or different interface features such as a speakers and/orvarious input/output ports.

In one embodiment, the reference microphone 110 is integrated with ornear the back door 612 of the camera 600 such that it is positioned nearthe rear of the camera 600, and the enhanced microphone is integratedwith the front face 610 of the camera 600 such that it is positionednear the front of the camera 600.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a front face perimeter portion 608 of acamera 600 with an integrated drain enhancement feature in the form of achannel 702 between a recess 704 where the enhanced microphone 110 (notshown) is positioned, and one or more drains (e.g,. an upper drainstructure 708 and a lower drain structure 706, each of which maycomprise a single drain or multiple drains) to enable liquid to drain.Microphone ports 710 provide openings to let sound reach themicrophone(s) housed in recess 704. In one embodiment, the upper drainstructure 708 is positioned above the channel 702 and the lower drainstructure 706 is positioned below the channel 702. The lower drainstructure 706 is generally much larger than the upper drain structure708.

When the camera 600 is submerged the entire channel 702 generally fillswith water. When the camera 600 emerges from the water, the large massof water in the channel 702 flows out through the lower drain structure706 through the force of gravity. This pulls air in through upper drainstructure 708 and clears water from the recess 704, the upper drainstructure 708, and/or the microphone ports 710, thus allowing themicrophone to resume normal acoustic performance.

Additional Configuration Considerations

Throughout this specification, some embodiments have used the expression“coupled” along with its derivatives. The term “coupled” as used hereinis not necessarily limited to two or more elements being in directphysical or electrical contact. Rather, the term “coupled” may alsoencompass two or more elements are not in direct contact with eachother, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other, or arestructured to provide a drainage path between the elements.

Likewise, as used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,”“includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof,are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus.

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the invention. Thisdescription should be read to include one or at least one and thesingular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meantotherwise.

Finally, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular element, feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment.

Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciatestill additional alternative structural and functional designs asdisclosed from the principles herein. Thus, while particular embodimentsand applications have been illustrated and described, it is to beunderstood that the disclosed embodiments are not limited to the preciseconstruction and components disclosed herein. Various modifications,changes and variations, which will be apparent to those skilled in theart, may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methodand apparatus disclosed herein without departing from the spirit andscope defined in the appended claims.

1. A camera, comprising: a lens assembly for directing light receivedthrough a lens window to an image sensor; a substantially cubic camerahousing enclosing the lens assembly, the substantially cubic camerahousing comprising a bottom face, left face, right face, back face, topface, and front face; a first microphone integrated with the front faceof the camera and positioned within a recess on an interior facingportion of the front face; a lower drain below the first microphonecomprising an opening in the substantially cubic camera housing near thefront face, the lower drain to allow water that collects in the recesshousing the first microphone to drain; an upper drain above the firstmicrophone comprising an opening in the substantially cubic camerahousing near the front face, the upper drain to allow air to enter therecess as the water drains; a channel through the interior facingportion of the front face that couples the recess to the lower drain;and a second microphone integrated with a rear portion of thesubstantially cubic camera housing.
 2. The camera of claim 1, furthercomprising: a plurality of microphone ports comprising openings betweenthe recess and an exterior facing portion of the front face.
 3. Thecamera of claim 1, further comprising: a water submersion sensor tosense when the camera is submerged in water.
 4. The camera of claim 1,further comprising: a microphone selection controller to select betweenthe first microphone and the second microphone based on characteristicsof a first audio signal captured by the first microphone and a secondaudio signal captured by the second microphone.
 5. The camera of claim4, wherein the microphone selection controller comprises: a processor;and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions executable by the processor for selecting between the firstmicrophone and the second microphone, the instructions when executedcausing the processor to perform steps including: receiving the firstaudio signal from the first microphone representing ambient audiocaptured by the first microphone during a time interval; receiving thesecond audio signal from the second microphone representing ambientaudio captured by the second microphone during the time interval;determining a correlation metric between the first audio signal and thesecond audio signal representing a similarity between the first audiosignal and the second audio signal; responsive to the correlation metricexceeding a predefined threshold, outputting the first audio signal forthe time interval; responsive to the correlation metric not exceedingthe first predefined threshold, determining a first noise metric for thefirst audio signal and a second noise metric for the second audiosignal; responsive to a sum of the first noise metric and a bias valuebeing less than the second noise metric, outputting the first audiosignal for the time interval; and responsive to the sum of the firstnoise metric and the bias value being greater than the second noisemetric, outputting the second audio signal for the time interval.
 6. Thecamera of claim 5, wherein determining the correlation metric comprisescorrelating the first audio signal and the second audio signal over apredefined spectral range of approximately 600 Hz to approximately 1200Hz.
 7. The camera of claim 5, wherein determining the first noise metricand the second noise metric comprises determining the first and secondnoise metrics over a predefined spectral range of approximately 20 Hz toapproximately 16 kHz.
 8. The camera of claim 5, further comprising:setting the predefined threshold to a first predefined value responsiveto the correlation metric exceeding the predefined threshold in a priortime interval; and setting the predefined threshold to a secondpredefined value responsive to the correlation metric not exceeding thepredefined threshold in the prior time interval, wherein the firstpredefined value is higher than the second predefined value.
 9. Thecamera of claim 5, wherein determining the first noise metric and thesecond noise metric comprises: setting the first noise metric to a firstvalue based on a root-mean-square level of the first audio signal over apredefined time period; and setting the second noise metric to a secondvalue based on a root-mean-square level of the second audio signal overthe predefined time period.
 10. The camera of claim 5, furthercomprising: dynamically setting the bias value for each time intervalbased on whether the correlation metric is above an upper correlationthreshold, below a lower correlation threshold, or in between the lowerand upper correlation thresholds.
 11. The camera of claim 10, whereindynamically setting the bias value comprises: setting the bias value toa positive predefined value responsive to the correlation metric beingbelow the lower correlation threshold; setting the bias value to anegative predefined value responsive to the correlation metric beingabove the upper correlation threshold; and setting the bias value as alinear function of the correlation metric responsive to the correlationmetric being in between the lower correlation threshold and the uppercorrelation threshold.
 12. The camera of claim 10, wherein dynamicallysetting the bias value comprises: setting the bias value to thedifference of a positive predefined value and a hysteresis biasresponsive to the correlation metric being below the lower correlationthreshold and the first microphone being selected for a prior timeinterval; setting the bias value to a difference of a negativepredefined value and the hysteresis bias responsive to the correlationmetric being above the upper correlation threshold and the firstmicrophone being selected for a prior time interval; setting the biasvalue as a difference between a linear function of the correlationmetric and the hysteresis bias responsive to the correlation metricbeing in between the lower correlation threshold and the uppercorrelation threshold and the first microphone being selected in theprior time interval; setting the bias value to a sum of a positivepredefined value and the hysteresis bias responsive to the correlationmetric being below the lower correlation threshold and the secondmicrophone being selected for the prior time interval; setting the biasvalue to a sum of the negative predefined value and the hysteresis biasresponsive to the correlation metric being above the upper correlationthreshold and the second microphone being selected for the prior timeinterval; setting the bias value as a sum of a linear function of thecorrelation metric and the hysteresis bias responsive to the correlationmetric being in between the lower correlation threshold and the uppercorrelation threshold and the second microphone being selected in theprior time interval.
 13. The camera of claim 4, wherein the microphoneselection controller comprises: a processor; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by theprocessor for selecting between the first microphone and the secondmicrophone, the instructions when executed causing the processor toperform steps including: receiving the first audio signal from the firstmicrophone representing ambient audio captured by the first microphoneduring a time interval; receiving the second audio signal from thesecond microphone representing ambient audio captured by the secondmicrophone during the time interval; determining a correlation metricbetween the first audio signal and the second audio signal representinga similarity between the first audio signal and the second audio signal;responsive to the correlation metric exceeding a predefined threshold,outputting the first audio signal for the time interval; responsive tothe correlation metric not exceeding the predefined threshold,determining if the first and second microphones are submerged in liquid;responsive to determining that the first and second microphones are notsubmerged, determining whether the first microphone is wet; responsiveto determining that the first microphone is wet, outputting the secondmicrophone signal for the time interval; responsive to determining thatfirst microphone is not wet or that the first and second microphones aresubmerged, determining a first noise metric for the first audio signaland a second noise metric for the second audio signal; responsive to asum of the first noise metric and a bias value being less than thesecond noise metric, outputting the first audio signal for the timeinterval; and responsive to the sum of the first noise metric and thebias value being greater than the second noise metric, outputting thesecond audio signal for the time interval.
 14. The camera of claim 13,wherein determining if the wet microphone condition is met comprises:determining an average signal level of the first audio signal and anaverage signal level for the second audio signal; responsive to a ratioof the first average signal level to the second average signal levelexceeding a second threshold or detecting a wind condition, determiningthat the wet microphone condition is not detected; responsive to theratio of the first average signal level to the second average signallevel not exceeding the second threshold and not detecting the windcondition, determining that the wet microphone condition is detected.15. An audio capture system, comprising: a substantially cubic housingcomprising a bottom face, left face, right face, back face, top face,and front face; a first microphone integrated with the front face of theaudio capture system and positioned within a recess on an interiorfacing portion of the front face; a lower drain below the firstmicrophone comprising an opening in the substantially cubic housing nearthe front face, the lower drain to allow water that collects in therecess housing the first microphone to drain; an upper drain above thefirst microphone comprising an opening in the substantially cubichousing near the front face, the upper drain to allow air to enter therecess as the water drains; a channel through the interior facingportion of the front face that couples the recess to the lower drain;and a second microphone integrated with a rear portion of thesubstantially cubic housing.
 16. The audio capture system of claim 15,further comprising: a plurality of microphone ports comprising openingsbetween the recess and an exterior facing portion of the front face. 17.The audio capture system of claim 15, further comprising: a watersubmersion sensor to sense when the audio capture system is submerged inwater.
 18. The audio capture system of claim 15, further comprising: amicrophone selection controller to select between the first microphoneand the second microphone based on characteristics of a first audiosignal captured by the first microphone and a second audio signalcaptured by the second microphone.